Among properties involved is a house across from Governor's Mansion that once housed Democratic Party

3/15/02By EDDIE CURRAN Staff Reporter

MONTGOMERY - At the same time he was helping Gov. Don Siegelman's personal stockbroker win state business, former top Siegelman aide Nick Bailey was involved with the broker in a series of real estate deals, according to deeds and state corporation records.

Bailey and Trava Williams - primarily through two companies called the Provident Group Inc., and Greenday LLC - have at times in the past three years owned three Montgomery properties, including the one-time home of the Alabama Democratic Party, and two homes, one of which was Bailey's residence for a time.

Records indicate that since Siegelman took office Williams has made tens of thousands of dollars helping Birmingham-based Sterne Agee Asset Management win a series of state investment services contracts. Williams is also Siegelman's stockbroker and the investment manager of the governor's campaign funds.

Neither Bailey nor Williams could be reached for comment.

Records show that at times Bailey intervened before state investment management contracts were awarded to other firms that had been managing funds' investments for years. In one case, Siegelman refused to sign contracts with three firms that for years had been successfully managing investments for a police officers retirement fund.

Bailey has not reported his interest in corporations or partnerships in his required annual financial disclosures with the Alabama Ethics Commission. Those corporations include Bailey Investments, whose members are Bailey and his brother, Shane, and the Provident Group Inc., of which Bailey was president and Williams secretary.

State corporation records show another Williams company, called the Pyramis Group, as the "managing partner" of Greenday. Corporation and deed records don't reflect that Bailey has been a partner in Greenday. Since Siegelman became governor, however, Bailey has bought one home from Greenday and, as president of Provident Group, sold another to that company.

Bailey's financial disclosures for 2000 and 1999 also show that he left blank portions of the ethics form that require public officials to list corporations or partnerships of which they are members or owners; and that he has checked the "no" box next to the question, "Did you, your spouse or dependents own real estate for investment or revenue production last year?"

By far the best known property which the Provident Group and Greenday have owned is a circa-1920's Montgomery house across the street from the Governor's Mansion.

The home, at 1157 S. Perry St., has variously been used as headquarters for the state Democratic Party, for the Siegelman-led effort to pass a statewide lottery and now, as the Montgomery home for workers with a Virginia-based firm that provides consulting and polling for Siegelman's re-election campaign.

Two years ago, the Montgomery Advertiser published a short feature article on the house, noting it was the former headquarters of the lottery campaign, and reporting that because of zoning rules the state Democratic Party, its next resident, was being forced to move. The paper reported that Bailey, as president of the Provident Group, was an owner of the home.

The story did not mention Williams, whose role in state contracts had not been reported at the time.

Bailey subsequently demanded a correction, telling the Advertiser, through a spokeswoman, that it was another Nick Bailey, not he, who owned the property. The paper printed the correction. Soon after, though, the Advertiser determined that the Siegelman aide was indeed one and the same as the Provident Nick Bailey. When confronted, Bailey, again through a spokeswoman, said he misunderstood the question, Advertiser stories from the time show.

Bailey explained to the newspaper that he bought the house to live with his brother, but they didn't work out as roommates.

Property records show that Provident Group, with Bailey listed as president, bought the home in April 1999 for $60,000. The entire sum was provided through a mortgage with Colonial Bank, records show, and Bailey signed the note. Four months later, in August 1999, Provident sold the home to Greenday for $97,000.

Once again, the entire sum was provided by a mortgage with Colonial Bank. The mortgage was signed by Williams, as president of the Pyramis Group, a "member of Greenday LLC," the deed shows.

Three months later, on Oct. 5, 1999, Greenday took out two more mortgages, totaling $111,000, again with Colonial Bank. The mortgages were signed by Williams, again in his role as president of the Pyramis Group.

As of that day in October 1999, Greenday had three mortgages on the home, totaling $208,000, the probate records show.

In September 2000, Greenday sold the home to a Montgomery real estate agent for $110,500. Within two months of the sale, all the Colonial mortgages had been canceled - or paid off, Probate Court records show.

Last May, the real estate agent, June Wilder, sold the home to Perkins Investments for $120,000, property records show. That company is owned by Joe Perkins, a political consultant with the Matrix Group. Both Perkins and Matrix are known for their close ties to the Siegelman administration.

During a recent visit to the property, two young men who came to the door told the Mobile Register they were staying there and worked for Cunningham, Harris & Associates. That's a West Virginia-based political consulting firm that's working for the Siegelman re-election campaign.

Since June, Cunningham Harris has been paid about $95,000 from the Siegelman campaign, according to the governor's campaign disclosure for 2001. Perkins said Wednesday that he's leasing the home to employees of the West Virginia firm, who are living there while providing services to Siegelman's campaign.

Probate records also show that in March 2000, Greenday borrowed $102,000 from Colonial to buy a house that it sold to Bailey, in October 2000, for $113,000. The entire sum was paid with a mortgage from Colonial Bank.

On his own, in March 1999, Bailey used a $144,000 mortgage from Colonial to buy a home a few blocks from the Governor's Mansion. He sold it in December 2000 for $150,200, deed records show.